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What's Hot in Home Construction Now -- and Hopefully When You Sell

Written by: Jerry Kronenberg08/01/14 - 8:15 AM EDT

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Consumers want newly built residences to have plenty of "green" technology -- but old standbys such as walk-in closets are even more important, a recent survey of developers shows.

"A good walk-in closet or laundry room might not be sexy, but they do make a household run better -- and what's the point of moving to a [newly built] home if it's not going to make your life easier?" says Stephen Melman of the National Association of Home Builders, which conducted the study.

The NAHB polled some 400 of its members to find out what household features developers expect to most frequently include in new-construction homes.

Melman says the survey -- which asked about everything from granite counters to media rooms -- shows not only what's important for builders to add, but also what homeowners who plan to renovate existing properties should include.

"You want to make sure that your home is designed to be sellable at the end of your time there," he says. "You probably don't want to do something that's so unique that no one else will find it of any interest."

Read on to check out the items that poll respondents told the NAHB they're most likely to build into typical homes. All of the amenities below averaged four or better on a five-point scale of how likely builders said they were likely to add a given feature to a new-construction home.

Laundry rooms and walk-in closets Score: 4.8 and 4.9, respectively

A walk-in closet in the master bedroom ranked No. 1 in the NAHB's survey -- scoring 4.9 out of a possible five -- while laundry rooms tied for second place at 4.8.

Melman says that while pretty much all newly built homes have laundry rooms and walk-in closets these days, today's versions are way more elaborate than those of years gone by.

"Closets and laundry rooms have to be a lot more efficient because people just don't have as much time to deal with things any more," he says.

For instance, the expert says state-of-the-art laundry rooms have skylights, build-in ironing boards and "basically the ability to do pretty much everything but fold the laundry and put it away for you."